The School of Unmanned Bots Prowling the Sea

They don't often make headlines or rile up civil libertarians. But over the past decade, there have been a growing number of undersea robots trolling the depths. These unmanned systems—some remotely piloted, others autonomous—patrol harbors, track shark migration, monitor pipelines, and more.

Deep Dive

Deep Dive

Company: Kongsberg Maritime subsidiary Hydroid

Platform: REMUS 6000

When the Waitt Institute for Discovery wanted to search for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane and map the debris field of the Titanic in 3D, it employed the REMUS 6000. A torpedo-shaped autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) more than 12 feet long, the REMUS 6000 can dive 6000 meters beneath the ocean's surface, taking with it a multitude of high-tech sensors such as side-scan sonar or a sub-bottom profiler, which is used to identify the layers of rock or sediment under the ocean floor.

Supersize Jellyfish

Supersize Jellyfish

Institution: Virginia Tech College of Engineering

Platform: Cyro

Partnering with four other university teams, Virginia Tech engineers have developed a silicon-skinned robotic jellyfish that weighs 170 pounds. The prototype, nicknamed "Cyro," dwarfs its hand-size RoboJelly predecessor and also requires no tether, drawing power from a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery.

The U.S. Navy, which is funding this research, wants to develop long-endurance autonomous undersea machines for surveillance. Cyro could also be used to study marine life and ocean currents.